Hearing Landscapes

Qualcomm Institute Composer-in-Residence Lei Liang will present new musical compositions to accompany high-resolution, multispectral scans of 12 rare Chinese landscape paintings by 20^th-century artist Huang Binhong (1865-1955). The multispectral imaging led by CISA3’s Falko Kuester will shed new light on the painter’s creative process by capturing detailed information (big data) about the materials, techniques and artistic processes used by Huang. The paintings were on loan from the San Francisco-based Mozhai Foundation. Liang, a professor of music at UC San Diego, is developing new concepts of sonic “shadows” and “lights” to craft a musical language for orchestration and sound spatialization. The exhibit will showcase the never-before-seen multispectral images of the paintings, captured in visible light and at ultraviolet, infrared and other wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will also give the campus and broader community an opportunity to experience how composer Liang transforms the big data into new sonic expressions and individualized experiences.

Lei Liang – Composer (Calit2, UCSD)

Falko Kuester – Visual Explorer (CISA3, UCSD)

Zachary Seldess – Principal Collaborator / Audio Software Developer

Greg Surges – Audio Software Developer

Samantha Stout – Cultural Heritage Engineer

Chris McFarland – Software Developer

Eric Hamdan - Audio System Developer

“Landscapes,” album leaves by Huang Binhong (1865-1955) on loan through the courtesy of Elna Tsao with support from the Mozhai Foundation.